TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will visit Taiwan this year, though the precise timing still has to be decided, Kuomintang (KMT) official Alexander Huang (黃介正) said Thursday (Feb. 16), confirming earlier reports.

The opposition party’s international affairs director was speaking on his return from a trip to the U.S., during which he met with McCarthy aides and foreign policy advisors, per CNA.

The California Republican’s predecessor as house speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, traveled to Taiwan in Aug. 2022, with her visit followed by large-scale Chinese live-fire drills causing concern about even more aggressive action by Beijing.

Huang told a talk show Thursday that even though McCarthy had been in office for only a short time, he was set on visiting Taiwan, but a precise time had not been arranged yet, though it would be some time this year.

According to Huang, the KMT welcomed such a visit, but had reservations about the way it should be handled. He claimed that the government had not prepared well for Pelosi’s visit, even though four months elapsed between her announcing her plans and actually arriving in Taiwan.

The government should have conducted more talks with the U.S. administration and with the Pentagon in particular, while collecting more information about the activities and intentions of the Chinese military, he said.